Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) challenge to build a healthy nursing workforce. Nurses confront various objective and subjective nursing workloads which contribute to their LUTS, but less is known about how nursing workloads influence their LUTS. This study is designed to test hypotheses that delayed voiding behaviours mediate the relationships between nursing workloads and LUTS in female nurses.
This study analysed the baseline data collected from an ongoing cohort study named Nurse Urinary Related Health Study (NURS) in China. LUTS of nurses in 20 tertiary hospitals were assessed with the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms. Objective nursing workloads including working environment, working hours, and working schedule were collected, and perceived stress, the proxy of the subjective nursing workload was assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale. Delayed voiding behaviours were assessed with three questions adapted from the Taiwan Nurse Bladder Survey. Structural equation modelling was used to run the mediation model.
More than half (51%) of 13,191 female nurses had LUTS. Median age was 31 years (IQR 27-37). When delayed voiding behaviours served as a mediator, the direct effects of subjective nursing workload rather than objective nursing workloads on LUTS were significant.
Nursing workloads influence nurses' LUTS via delayed voiding behaviours. Strategies tailored to delayed voiding behaviours should be developed, and that may work with stress-reducing strategies as the gatekeepers for nurses' bladder health.
The Journal of urology. 2024 Jan 29 [Epub ahead of print]
Yongjuan Rao, Chen Wu, Dongjuan Xu, Yongjian Zhu, Junxiu Ma, Jing Mou, Jie Gao, Jieqiong Ren, Ming Li, Kefang Wang
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China., School of Nursing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana., Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, Shandong, China., Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, Shandong, China., People's Hospital of Rizhao, Rizhao, Shandong, China.